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VOLUME VI.
AT THE 01,1) HOME SPRING.
BY J. W. HATTON.
One thy I met a fanner’s daughter,
Who came iu baste fov a pail of water;
Said sbe, “Itude boy, yoa hadn’t ought to,”
When I kissed her then and there.
She vowed I wrs a mugbty lad;
S id she was angry—very mad; ;
But I knew in my soul that she was ghd,
Because I kissed her, 'hen and “lera.
AVnen I had filled her pail with water,
She still declared I “hadn’t ought to;”
But to my arms I fondly caught her,
And hugged and ) ned her, then and there*
'thus young we loved—too young to many,
But o’er and o’er we vowed to lairv;
That naught but death our live should parry,
The love wo plighted then and there.
Years have come years have ended;
Years through which our faith extended,
L util, at last, our love was blended,
Tno love we plighted <heu and there.
As round the spi'ug our children play,
We fondly smile and bless the day
When, most as young and quite as gay,
We vowed to love each other there.
— Ch'ccijo L r I 'jcr
MISCELLANY.
THE FATAL NOOSE
The diligence from Paris to Chalons
stopped one evening, just after dark,
so.no miles beyond the little town of
Itouviay, to set down an English lady
and her child at a lonely roadside inn.
Mrs. Martin expected to find a car*
Huge ready to take her to the Chateau
do Senarfc, a distance of some leagues,
whither she was repairing on a visit
but was told it had not vet arrived.—
The landlady, a tall, coarsolooking
woman, who showed her into the vast
hall, that soiled at once as a sitting
room and kitchen, observed that the
roads were so muddy and difficult at
night that there was little chance of
her friend arriving before the morn*
ing.
‘You had better, therefore/ she Said,
‘make up your mind to sleep here. We
have a good room to offer you, and
you will be much more comfortable
between a pair of warm sheets than
knocking about in our rough country,
especially as your dear child seems
sickly.’
Mrs. Martin, though ranch fatigued
hy her journey, hesitated. A good
bight's rest was certainly a tempting
prospect ; but she felt so confident that
her friends would not neglect her,
that, after a moment she replied :
‘1 thank you, madarnc ; 1 will sit up
for an hour or so ; it is not late, and
the carriage may after all.—
Should it not, I shall be glad of your
loom, which you niay'prcpare at any
rate/
the hostess, who seemed anxious
H at her guest should not remain in the
peat room, suggested that a lire bo
made above; but Mrs. Martin found
hciselt so comfortable where she w as,
* l pile of fagots was blazing on the
heartlq that she declined first to move.
Her daughter, about five years of ago,
p °on 'vent to sleep on her lap, and she
beiself found that whilst her ears were
anxiously listening for the roll of car
thigo wheels, her eyes occasionally
|h'scd, and slumber began to make its
nsidious approaches.
In order to prevent hersc I*’frern 1 *’frern giv
ln o away, she endeavored to direct
/ 1 attention lo the objects around her.
The apartment was vest, and lighted
more by the glare of the fite than by
the dirty candle stuck into a filthy tin
'audio-slick tlial stood’on one of the
Png tables, iwo or tlnee huge beams
stretched across halfway up the walls,
leaving a space filled with flitting shad
ows ab °ve. From these depended a
llls ty gun or two, a sword, several
a o s > hanks of onions, cooking uten
hll3 ctc * There were few signs that
the house was much visited, though a
)'T of empty wine bottles lay in one
0,1 “ci. Ine landlady sat some dis
tance from the fireplace with her two
K nns, who had laid their heads togeth
cr aml talked in a whisper.
Mrs. Martin began to feel uneasy.—
J ic idea entered her mind that she
ia ' l fallen into a resort of robbers ;
and thc wor <ls “CV e*’ die ” (it is she)
j* •‘'■hi.n and to alarm her. The door
l.ng into the road was lelt ajar, and
a moment she felt an impulse to
mart u P a °d escape on foot. But she
]j‘ ls * iU ' Horn any other habitation, and
1 People oJ the house rer 'y enter>
tained any evil designs, hi
would only precipitate the ca
So she resolved on patience
ed attentively for the approa
friends. All she heard, how
the whistling of the wine
dashing of the rain, which 1
to fall just after her arrival.
About two hours passed i
comfortable way. At lengt
'vas thrust open, and a man,
wet, came in. She breat
freely, for this new corner rn:
trate the evil designs of hei
they had any. He was ai
jo vial-faced looking an
her with confidence by the fi\
bis manners.
‘A fine night for walking!
shaking himself like a like a
had scrambled out of a pone
have you to give ine ? I am
skin. Hope I disturb noboc
mo a bottle of wine.'
The hostess, in a surly, sic
told her eldest son to serve lli
man, and then addressing A
tin said ;
‘You see your friends will i
and you are keeping us up t
pose, You had better go to
( I will wait a little longer
reply, which elicited a kind
of contempt.
The red-haired man finishei
lie of wine and then said :
‘Snow me a room, good vv
shall sleep here to*night.'
Mrs. Martin thought that a
nounced these u ords he cast a
ing glance towards her, and
less repugnance at the idea ol
thc night in the house. Wh
fore, the red-haired man, aftc
bow, went up stairs, she sa
her friends had not arrived Hi
as well show her to a bed ro
‘I thought it would come i
last/ said the landlady. ‘Pie
the lady's trunks up stairs.'
In a few minutes Mrs. Mar
herself alone in a spacious it,
a large fire burning on the he:
first care alter putting herd'
was to examine the door,
only by a latch. There wa
inside. She looked around f
thing to barricade it with,
ccived a chest of drawers. T
her strength. Sbe half iif
pushed it against the door,
tent with this, she seized a
increase the strength of her cl
The leg was broken, and v
touched it, it fell with a eras
floor. A long echo went
through the house, and she
heart sink within her. But
died away and no one came
piled the fragments of the tat
the chest of drawers. Toh va
tied in this direction she pro<
examine the windows. They
well protected with iron be
wall were papered, and, afU
examination,seemed to contaii
of a secret door.
Mrs. Martin now sank into
to reflect upon her position,
natural, after having taken tl
cautions, the idea presented il
they might be superfluous,
smiled at the thought of \
friends would say when she n
them the terror of the night,
was sleeping tranquilly,the ro
half buried in the pillow. Tli
blazed up into a flame, wliils
snuffed candle burned diml
room was full of pale trembli
ows, but she had no sup erst" tic
Something positive could al
her alai in. She listened att
but she could hoar nothing
blowing of the wind over the
the pattering of the rain aga
window panes. As her excite
minished, the fatigue (which
forgotten) began again to mi
felt, and she resolved to und
go to to bed. •
Her heart leaped into her 1
For a moment she seemed
paralyzed. She had undressed
out the candle, when she acc
dropped her watch. Stooping
it up her eyes involuntarily
towards the bed. A mass of
and a luinu and a gleaming kt
revealed by the light of the li l
the first moment of terrified a
presence of rnuid returned,
that she had he’ self cut off a
of escape by the door, and wa
tnely to her own resources,
uttering a cry, but trembling
limb, the poor woman got intc
side her child. An idea—a p
suggested itself. It had flashed
her brain like lightning. It wa
ly chance left.
‘ Her bed was so placed that